Wasting Time
by benimaru
Summary: Leona Heidern is a soldier, but is that all..?


  
Leona sighed as she walked into the house she was currently sharing with her fellow Ikari warriors. Heidern didn't seem to be around, which was just as well, since she had just walked four miles and didn't feel like explaining to him that her motorcycle had broken down and she'd had to call a shop to come and get it. She had no doubt that he'd give her a lecture on vehicle maintenance and safe driving procedures which would prevent it from happening in the future. He probably wouldn't admit that the military hadn't exactly purchased top-of-the-line equipment for this particular assignment. Most likely, he'd also lecture her about having enough money to get a taxi next time. She rolled her eyes at the thought of listening to it.  
  
They were on covert mission in California, which had made the long walk a lot more bearable, given that it was January. And it wasn't as if it had been a strenuous crawl through enemy-infested jungle, wearing a field pack and a heavy machine gun; a brisk stroll down the crowded streets of San Francisco with a helmet strung around her neck and a small backpack full of folders wasn't exactly what she called a challenge. It was more that it had been inconvenient; she'd been annoyed that she wouldn't have as much private time at home as she'd thought she would. Also, walking was inefficient. She hated that.  
  
She'd come in through the sliding glass back door, not in the mood to walk around to the front of the house. The door was open, with only the screen closed, alerting her that someone was home. She neatly stacked the contents of the backpack on the coffee table in the living room and dropped the empty backpack on the floor next to the table. At least Heidern wouldn't be able to say she hadn't accomplished her objective before disgracing herself with faulty equipment. She stripped off her sneakers and flopped down on the couch with a sigh.  
  
She relaxed and let the silence of the house descend on her. After a moment or two of lying there listening to nothing, she noticed the murmur of male voices. Sitting up again, she pinpointed it as the room shared by Ralf and Clark. She decided to go ask them if they wanted to order a pizza or something; she hadn't eaten all day, and had gotten rather more exercise that day than she'd been planning to get. She swung her legs off the sofa, then stood up and padded down the hall to their room.  
  
The door was closed, which was rather unusual, especially when they were both inside. She paused, then raised her hand to knock, when she heard her name. She lowered her hand and moved her head closer to the door.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, it's nice," she heard Ralf saying. He had a smile in his voice. When he was in a good mood, Ralf always talked like he was about to tell you something funny. "But like I said, put it away before Leona gets home."  
  
"She should have been home a while ago," rumbled Clark, his voice a little deeper and a little more serious. "You think she's all right?"  
  
"Man, it's San Francisco, not Southtown. I doubt we've got much to worry about. She probably stopped off somewhere or something. But yeah, she should be home soon, so put that away. You don't want her seeing it."  
  
"Yes, yes, I understand. Hey... you get anything yet?" Clark's tone held a little bit of challenge.  
  
"Of course!" Ralf laughed. "What kinda man do you think I am? Check these babies out!"  
  
"Pretty."  
  
"And look at this."  
  
Clark let out a whistle. "Wow, I'd like to get my hands on that."  
  
"Having had my hands on her for a bit, I can tell you she's sweet and sexy and smooooth." Ralf laughed again, and Leona suddenly flushed and backed away from the door a step. Ralf and Clark always seemed so professional and military around her father that she sometimes forgot they were men, and had the urges that all men had. They didn't spend all their time killing people and going out on assignment.  
  
They weren't like her.  
  
She felt a sudden catch in her throat, but swallowed it before it became anything more. So what if she'd never had a boyfriend, or never spent much time with people outside of her elite squad? She had obligations and responsibilities. The only time she really got to spend with others and be honest about her identity was the King of Fighters tournament, but even that was a duty in many ways. If Ralf and Clark had a life outside the Ikari, she could only envy them; she felt too ostracized from society to go out, even on those occasions that she did have free time to herself. She always felt guilty for wasting time, for doing pointless things when she could be doing something useful.  
  
Just as she was about to turn and go back to the living room, she heard something that she couldn't help staying to listen to.  
  
"You think Heidern has anything?" It was Clark, sounding serious again, but then he always sounded like that.  
  
Ralf snorted. "Heidern? I'd be surprised if he even remembers."  
  
Leona had to smile too. Her adopted father tended to have a one-track mind, and physical pleasure was generally not the track he was on. He was military to the bone.  
  
"Aw, I'm sure you're wrong," protested Clark. "He's not that cold. I'm sure he got something."  
  
"Well, maybe I'll ask him and remind the old man about what's good in his life." She could hear the smirk in Ralf's voice. "He's got to think about something other than work for a while."  
  
"You know, that man could use a wife."  
  
"What woman would put up with him jumping out of bed to run off to work all the time?"   
  
"Guess you're right, but it's too bad Leona doesn't have a mother." There was the rustle of paper again. "So where are you gonna put that?"  
  
"I guess I'll hide it under my bed or something," replied Ralf. "It's not like Leona's going to be snooping around under there."  
  
"I think I'll put mine under the mattress. I mean, I doubt she'd be in here, but what if she comes in looking for something and drops something on the floor? She'd see that right away under there."  
  
"Well... good point, but I think it's a little big to put under my mattress. It'd get squished. I'll just stick it under the bed and pray she never drops anything in here."  
  
There were sounds of moving around, and then footsteps heading for the door. Leona hastily made her way back down the hall to the living room with a step lighter than a fox's. By the time the door opened she was sitting on the couch again, holding one of the folders she'd brought home, trying to look casual. Ralf and Clark made their way down the hall, talking about something or other, and stopped short when they saw Leona sitting on the sofa. She glanced over the back at them, trying to look as if she hadn't been outside their door moment before.  
  
"Hey, Leona," said Ralf, in tones of surprise. "I didn't know you were home. We didn't hear the bike..."  
  
"It broke down on me," she explained, sticking her tongue out to punctuate. "Don't tell my father. Maybe he won't notice."  
  
"I find that to be a highly unlikely circumstance," was Clark's reply to that. "In my experience the more you don't want him to notice something, the more he does."  
  
"Well, I couldn't help it. The motor died while I was on the street. I'm glad I was only starting to accelerate after a light. I almost ran into a bread shop. I had to call a mechanic to come and get it, and then I walked the rest of the way home..."  
  
"So that's why you were late..." said Clark. "We were a bit worried. Glad to see nothing was wrong."  
  
"Hey, when's the bike out of the shop?" asked Ralf, who'd taken off his bandanna and was twisting it between his fingers.  
  
"Well... I promised them loads of cash, since this is all on the expense account anyway and I figure it's the military's fault... but they said that even if I paid for express service, they wouldn't be able to give it back till tomorrow morning, 7 am. That's when they open."  
  
"Hmm..." Ralf smoothed his red kercheif, then stretched it open with a snap and brought it up to cover his wavy black hair. "Tell ya what... Clark and I were going out anyway. Tell Heidern one of us took it, and we'll tell him we broke it and go fetch it tomorrow morning."  
  
"What good would that do? Then you'll just get the lecture instead of me."  
  
"That would be the general idea," said Ralf, tying the kercheif, and gave her one of his lopsided grins, his dark eyes sparking with mischief. "Think of it as another gift from us to you."  
  
"You're too young to waste your time listening to him," added Clark, and he and Ralf smiled at each other briefly. "We'll go pick it up tomorrow. Don't worry about it."  
  
"You got a claim ticket or something?" said Ralf, and Leona dug in her pockets for it while she smiled at them, relieved that they were bailing her out of even this extremely minor trouble. They were always doing things like that. Ralf always said she needed to smile more.  
  
She handed the slightly crumpled ticket to Ralf, who put it in his wallet, and the two of them grinned at her before turning to leave. Then Ralf turned back.  
  
"Look, we're gonna go out on the town and hang out, put back a few drinks, relax... do you want to come with? We'll buy the drinks since you're so young," and he winked, knowing she had a perfectly good fake ID.  
  
"Uh... I'm not sure," she said, wishing she could go but feeling like it would be strange to pretend, even for an evening, to be someone else, someone who wasn't a soldier.  
  
"Well... we're gonna grab something to eat first thing, so if you change your mind in the next hour or so, come find us down at the Spaghetti Shack, all right?" Ralf and Clark headed for the front door, Clark stopping briefly to grab his blue hat and sunglasses from the table by the door, and then they were gone. A moment later she heard the other motorcycle; looking out the front bay window, she saw them roar by riding double on the second motorcycle. No doubt they'd say they'd taken both out and only come back with the one.  
  
She got up and went to the kitchen, thinking to make herself a sandwich or something. There was a large bag of various shampoos, soap, shaving cream, and other bathroom things on the counter; someone must have bought them for the duration of the stay in San Francisco and forgotten to put them away. She grabbed the bag and took it up the hall to the bathroom, where she dropped it off on the counter.  
  
The bathroom was right across from Ralf and Clark's room, and as she came out, she found herself looking through the now-open door, checking their beds for suspicious lumps... but everything looked perfectly normal, the bed covers made and cornered in strict military fashion, the carpet empty of anything suspicious. She couldn't help wondering though... they'd been so very cautious that she shouldn't see what they'd bought. She felt like being perverse and going to look; what kind of women did they want, anyway? She wished she knew.  
  
She paused outside the door for a moment... then, without giving it any more thought, she slipped into the room and dropped down on her stomach to look under Ralf's bed. All that was there was a long flat box, a magazine, and a roll of what appeared to be sedate green wrapping paper, all shoved as far into the corner as possible. She drug out the magazine and the box.  
  
The magazine turned out to be an old issue of some knife collector's periodical, so she set it aside. The contraband must be in the box. She lifted the lid off and then blinked in surprise.  
  
The box contained a pistol and a smaller box. The pistol was a dull silver, and obviously brand new. It was of an extremely recent make, and looked like it had cost quite a bit. She wondered why Ralf would want to hide something like this from her; then she blushed, realizing that the guys hadn't been discussing what she had thought they were at all.  
  
She wanted to touch it, but she feared leaving fingerprints on it and giving herself away. Instead she opened the smaller box in curiosity, wondering if he was keeping bullets or something in it. There was a piece of folded paper inside. When she picked it up she saw a pair of earrings underneath, small butterflies made from chips of sparkling blue and green stone and detailed in silver.  
  
[ To Leona... happy birthday, sweetie! I saw these and thought  
[ of you, or something like that. For the gun... I thought you  
[ needed a new one so here it is - the one you were drooling on  
[ in that magazine a few months ago. Don't think I didn't see you.  
[ But hey, these earrings are so you don't forget that you're  
[ someone other than an Ikari unit. Lighten up. And don't throw  
[them at anyone, because they cost a pretty penny.  
[-- Ralf  
  
Her birthday. She sat back in shock, wondering how she'd forgotten her own birthday. They'd been busy lately; she'd thought about it briefly when they'd received the date of the assignment, but it had gone out of her head after that. Coming up this weekend and she hadn't even remembered that she'd be nineteen. Her father certainly hadn't said anything, and Ralf and Clark had obviously been planning to surprise her. She wondered if Heidern had forgotten also, or if he too was planning to spring something on her. She was sure she would have remembered when she saw a calendar, but it hadn't entered her thoughts at all for the week they'd been in San Francisco.  
  
She folded the note back up and put everything back the way she'd found it; she was tempted to look under Clark's mattress and see what he'd gotten for her, but she resisted; it would be easier to pretend she had never seen it before if she hadn't.  
  
She made her way back to the kitchen with the butterflies dancing in her head, sparkling in a way that was entirely different from the sharp light off a blade or the glitter of a steel mesh jacket; different even from a jewelry heist or a gold bar from Fort Knox. They were friendlier. Warmer. They had been purchased with her in mind... Ralf and Clark had actually thought of her, tried to find her gifts she'd like even though she never really expressed her interest in things... and she was certain that Ralf's note was meant to make her smile...  
  
Once again she felt her throat tighten, but this time it was with the relief rushing over her that they cared, that anyone cared about the Leona that wasn't a soldier. She wasn't alone with nothing but her duty...  
  
She suddenly made a decision; sprinting back to the sofa she put on her jacket and shoes and shut the sliding door. She grabbed the keys to the second car out of a drawer in the kitchen, and ran out to the driveway. Tonight she'd spend time with her fellow Ikari... her friends. No matter how she'd felt before, it wouldn't be irresponsible. It wouldn't be a waste of time. It wasn't a waste of time to be happy.  
  
~~~ Fin ~~~  
_______________________________________________________________________  
** Author's Notes **  
1. Leona's birthday is January 10th.  
2. In case you didn't know, Leona has a fun move where she throws her earrings at you and they explode.  
3. Ralf's hobby is collecting knives.  



End file.
